a short course, part 11

The Muslim Brotherhood’s
Westward Infiltration

After years of steady growth in Europe through the 1960s and ‘70s, the Muslim Brotherhood in the 1980s moved its European headquarters from Germany to the United Kingdom.

At that time, Mohammed Akef, who would become the MB’s Supreme Guide for several years until early 2010, served as the imam at a Munich mosque when he moved the Ikhwan’s European operations into the Markfield Conference Centre near Leicester, U.K.

The Markfield Conference Centre is owned by the Islamic Foundation, an affiliate of the Muslim Council of Britain – both Muslim Brotherhood front groups. The Centre now houses the Federation of Islamic Organisations in Europe (FIOE), led by an Iraqi named Ahmed al-Rawi. FIOE has become one of Europe’s largest MB organizations.

Yousef al-Qaradawi, the Muslim Brotherhood spiritual leader, is heavily involved with this entire network. The FIOE has become the starting point for a number of other Muslim Brotherhood entities, including the Institute for the Study of Human Sciences and the European Council for Fatwa and Research. Al-Qaradawi heads the latter group.

In France, the Brotherhood has the Union of Islamic Organizations in France; the Italian counterpart is the Union of the Islamic Communities and Organizations in Italy. Those groups work, respectively, with the French and Italian governments in order to advance the Ikhwan’s agenda and subvert the respective host countries. They use claims of victimhood and demands for equality and tolerance to mask their true intentions and marginalize or silence critics.

In the U.K., the Muslim Council of Britain and the Muslim Association of Britain are two of the most prominent MB organizations. Like their continental counterparts, the MCB and MAB work with Her Majesty’s government at the highest levels toward the same end: subverting the British government and nation from within.

Muslim Brotherhood youth fronts

The late 1990s saw the MB launch the Forum for European Muslim Youth and Student Organizations (FEMYSO), which is headquartered in Brussels, Belgium. FEMYSO describes itself in its own literature as “a network of 42 national and international organizations bringing together youth from over 26 different countries,” and credibly claims to be the primary organization in Europe for Muslim youth.

This Muslim Brotherhood organization, like most of the Ikhwan’s other fronts, has significant influence and appears to have encountered little resistance from European security services. In short, Muslim Brotherhood organizations exist across Europe today.

Domination of Muslim groups across Europe

As we shall see with respect to the MB footprint in the United States, the leading Muslim organizations across North America – virtually without exception – are fronts for the Muslim Brotherhood.

Even though the affiliation with the Brotherhood for most of these organizations is easily established, and the true, seditious objectives of these organizations are readily discernable, most European governments are unwilling to face reality, let alone deal effectively with the threats posed by MB penetration of the highest levels of their societies.

Take, for example, the following cases in point. Two of the most prominent MB operatives in Europe, Ghaleb Himmat and Yousef Nada, were designated as terrorism financiers by the U.S. Department of the Treasury in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. Treasury also deemed their bank, Al-Taqwa, as an entity that funds terrorism.

For his part, the Muslim Brotherhood’s spiritual leader, Yousef al-Qaradawi, was named in the 2008 Holy Land Foundation (HLF) terrorism financing trial as an unindicted co-conspirator for his involvement with the HLF Hamas fundraising front. (On the list of unindicted co-conspirators in this trial, Qaradawi was Number 38.)

All three individuals – Himmat, Nada and al-Qaradawi – nonetheless have been allowed to continue doing business with, and in some cases, actually inside Europe.

One reason for Europe’s general unwillingness to confront and counter the danger posed by the Muslim Brotherhood and its operatives is that in the parliamentary politics of some countries, Muslim communities are increasingly seen as critical voting blocs.

The Ikhwan has been able to capitalize on such perceptions long before Muslims achieve majority status in the demographics of a number of European nations, by insinuating shariah into those countries.

Growing unease among Europeans about the success of the Islamicization of parts of the continent has begun translating into pushback. In the Netherlands, Geert Wilders’ party has garnered unprecedented support for its opposition to shariah. The question is, will the efforts amount to much and, if so, will they achieve results in time?